Franco Morbidelli was fastest in Saturday morning practice for MotoGP’s Czech Grand Prix at Brno, ahead of another strong run from Johann Zarco.
With a host of underdogs making it into the automatic Q2 places, riders who’ll have to battle it out in Q1 include Ducati’s title hope Andrea Dovizioso and Suzuki’s Alex Rins.
Morbidelli’s 1m56.037s on the Petronas SRT Yamaha put him in front by just 0.016s over Zarco on Avintia’s 2019-specification Ducati.
The strong run from Zarco – top Ducati rider all weekend so far – prevented another SRT 1-2 by pushing championship leader Fabio Quartararo back to third.
The Espargaro brothers both starred with late runs as Pol put his KTM fourth and Aleix gave Aprilia its first Q2 place of 2020 in sixth.
They sandwiched Valentino Rossi, who was briefly second in the closing stages before being pushed back to 10th and then rebounding into a safer position.
Cal Crutchlow was the only Honda rider to grab a direct pass to Q2, putting his LCR bike eighth between Joan Mir and Maverick Vinales with a late lap that helped knock his Friday morning pacesetting team-mate Takaaki Nakagami back into Q1.
Nakagami ended up down in 12th between Rins and Dovizioso, all of them under half a second off the pace around the near-two-minute lap.
Both factory Ducatis had spent most of the session outside the top 10, but Danilo Petrucci grabbed the last automatic Q2 spot late on.
Tech3 KTM rider Miguel Oliveira looked well on course for a Q2 place with his final run, only to crash at the last corners and end up 18th.
Pramac is only running one bike for the rest of the weekend fellowing Francesco Bagnaia’s Friday injury. Jack Miller was 14th on its remaining Ducati, with factory test rider Michele Pirro expected to join him for the upcoming Austria races.
Practice 3 Results
| Pos | Name | Team | Bike | Gap Next | Gap Leader | Best Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Franco Morbidelli | Petronas Yamaha SRT | Yamaha | 1m56.037s | ||
| 2 | Johann Zarco | Avintia Racing | Ducati | +0.016s | +0.016s | 1m56.053s |
| 3 | Fabio Quartararo | Petronas Yamaha SRT | Yamaha | +0.081s | +0.097s | 1m56.134s |
| 4 | Pol Espargaró | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | +0.006s | +0.103s | 1m56.14s |
| 5 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | +0.01s | +0.113s | 1m56.15s |
| 6 | Aleix Espargaró | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | +0.033s | +0.146s | 1m56.183s |
| 7 | Joan Mir | Team Suzuki MotoGP | Suzuki | +0.078s | +0.224s | 1m56.261s |
| 8 | Cal Crutchlow | LCR Honda | Honda | +0.002s | +0.226s | 1m56.263s |
| 9 | Maverick Viñales | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha | +0.019s | +0.245s | 1m56.282s |
| 10 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati Team | Ducati | +0.012s | +0.257s | 1m56.294s |
| 11 | Alex Rins | Team Suzuki MotoGP | Suzuki | +0.061s | +0.318s | 1m56.355s |
| 12 | Takaaki Nakagami | LCR Honda | Honda | +0.102s | +0.42s | 1m56.457s |
| 13 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati Team | Ducati | +0.064s | +0.484s | 1m56.521s |
| 14 | Jack Miller | Pramac Racing | Ducati | +0.069s | +0.553s | 1m56.59s |
| 15 | Brad Binder | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | +0.14s | +0.693s | 1m56.73s |
| 16 | Tito Rabat | Avintia Racing | Ducati | +0.301s | +0.994s | 1m57.031s |
| 17 | Bradley Smith | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | +0.021s | +1.015s | 1m57.052s |
| 18 | Miguel Oliveira | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | KTM | +0.019s | +1.034s | 1m57.071s |
| 19 | Alex Marquez | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | +0.264s | +1.298s | 1m57.335s |
| 20 | Stefan Bradl | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | +0.174s | +1.472s | 1m57.509s |
| 21 | Iker Lecuona | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | KTM | +0.06s | +1.532s | 1m57.569s |
